Zenon Konopka isn't just a goon!

With the second round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs underway, the Ottawa Senators have already been eliminated at the hands of the New York Rangers and will enjoy the rest of the festivities from the sidelines. Although they are gone from contention, they took New York to a full seven-game series and it was one of their "grunt" players that has impressed me the most out of any player thus far in the playoffs; Zenon Konopka.

For most of his career Konopka has been classified solely as a goon and it is easy to see why. After parts of seven seasons in the NHL, Konopka has scored a mere 11-goals in 250-games, while at the same time racking up 877-minutes in penalties. Since 2002, he has bounced back and forth from minor league hockey to the NHL, only recently having garnered a full time stay in "the Show". While vying to solidify a permanent NHL roster spot during that time, he has had stops in the East Coast Hockey, the American Hockey League, and even the former Russian Super League, which was the predecessor of the current Kontinental Hockey League, Eastern Europe's version of the NHL. In that time, Konopka has played for 14 different hockey clubs in total.

Konopka has been viewed as an expendable. Not having the talent to make a regular lineup in the NHL, he has done his darndest to earn a spot with his tough, physical play and fisticuffs. Konopka was the most penalized player in the NHL during both the 2009-10 and the 2010-11 seasons. He had 33 and 25 fighting-majors in each of those seasons respectively as well; the 33 fights in '09-'10 being more than any other player in the league that season. Though Konopka has most often been used for intimidation purposes only for any team that he has played for, after his performance in Ottawa's losing efforts against the Rangers that very well may change.

In the 6-games that Konopka played in during the opening round, he was a faceoff wizard. He would win 75-percent, 73-percent, 83-percent, 63-percent, and 77-percent of his faceoffs across the last six games of the series respectively. Those stats alone could make him a highly sought after prize for any franchise in the league. It is very rare for a player to win that percentage of draws in the circle repeatedly. Having been so proficient on the draw allowed Konopka to take a regular shift during the series and play some of the longest amounts of ice-time in his career.

Along with how well he performed on faceoffs, what impressed me most about Zenon Konopka during the playoffs was his determination to win and his drive to play at his best. I felt that he was one of the most intense players to watch during the series. So much so that it got Konopka into a bit of trouble, as the NHL fined him $10,000 after he "verbally abused" a Ranger player that was giving a live-interview prior to the start of Game Two. Regardless of that incident, Konopka was constantly in front of the Rangers net, screening premier goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and driving Rangers defensemen to the boiling point. Being built like a tank at a solid 6'0" and 210lbs., and owning very imposing stare, Konopka created much havoc as he made camp in the New York crease.

Despite the losing effort by the Sens, Konopka would finish the series with 2-assists and a plus-2 in the 6 playoff games he appeared in for Ottawa. These 2-points were ninth best on the Senators team and his plus-2 in the losing series tied for second best on the Ottawa roster. Konopka had a better faceoff winning percentage than any other centerman for the Senators and still has one of the best percentages for regular faceoff takersfor any team in the NHL playoffs thus far.

At 31-years of age, Konopka very well may have earned himself the security of a full-time, permanent job in the NHL. Any team would want a player who can win faceoffs that steadily, and with his tenacity to boot Zenon Konopka is the kind of player that every winning team wants and desires. I wish for his success for next season and for years ahead. I have taken a whole new appreciation of him as a player who is multidimensional in numerous aspects of the game; not just when it comes to dropping the gloves.

The need for Sean Avery

Sean Avery

The start of this still very early NHL season was a rollercoaster ride for one of the most despised players in hockey, Sean Avery of the New York Rangers. On October 4th, 2011, Avery had been waived by the Rangers, due mainly to his lack of offensive production during the preseason and for the fact that New York has an abundance of better talented and younger players than Sean Avery. Upon clearing waivers and not being picked by another team, Avery was subsequently assigned to the Rangers' AHL affiliate the Connecticut Whale. This demotion of Avery irked me at the time, but more on that later.

After an injury was sustained to Rangers tough-guy Mike Rupp, New York felt the need of Avery's services and thus called him back up from Connecticut to join the club. Similar to Rupp, though much less physically imposing, Sean Avery can play rough, in-your-face hockey. Avery was called-up on Halloween (October 31st), and after clearing re-entry waivers he would join New York in time for November 3rd game against the Anaheim Ducks (Avery ended up being a healthy-scratch for the game).

I make no excuses for Sean Avery's
ill-behavior.

I will clearly state that I for one am very happy that Sean Avery is back in the NHL. I am referring to Sean Avery the player not Sean Avery the person, though probably for many there really is no difference. The drama he has created at the expense of his teammates, his coaches, the NHL and the fans is inexcusable and of poor taste. The inappropriate derogatory comments he made about his former girlfriends, the poor remarks he directed towards French-Canadian players, his run-ins with the police, his unecessary behavior directed at fans, etc. - all of it is embarrassing, asinine and has no place in the game of hockey. I make no excuses for Sean Avery on this level and I try to disassociate this behavior with his play on the ice.

Stating that, I think that the New York Rangers, or any NHL team for that matter, need Sean Avery, or "a Sean Avery". There is no questioning the effectiveness of Avery's style of play. Avery is likely the most effective pest and agitator in the game today, and arguably one of the best ever. He gets under the opponents skin with the greatest of ease, and gets their minds out of the game and on Avery instead.

Prime example: Sean Avery's shadowing of superstar Ilya Kovalchuk during the 2007 NHL playoffs when Kovalchuk was still with the Atlanta Thrashers and Avery joined the Rangers in February of that season after a trade from Los Angeles. Kovalchuk, maybe the best pure goal-scorer in the game right now, notched 42-goals that season for Atlanta, but saw himself and the Thrashers eliminated in 4 straight games against the Rangers in the 1st-round of the playoffs. In that series, Kovalchuk was limited to just 1-goal and 1-assist in the 4 games, but registered 19-minutes in penalties; most of which included time in the box for going after Avery who was a thorn in Kovalchuk's side all series long. Sean Avery had shutdown one of the best players in the world and took him completely off of his game. To this day there is still no love lost between Avery and Kovalchuk.

And history has proven time and time again that pests and agitators like Sean Avery can help win Stanley Cups. Perhaps the most prolific champion of all-time amongst pests and agitators is Esa Tikkanen who won five Stanley Cups in his career, four with the Edmonton Oilers and one with the New York Rangers. Tikkanen was notorious for getting under opponents' skin while using his insesent "Tikkanese" talk, Tikkanen's own wild combination of Finnish and English, which was enough to madden the opposition. When another team's player took exception to Tikkanen's play and antics, he would torment them further with the question, "How many Cups you got?", referring to all of the championships he had won while the other player likely had not won any.

Another prime example is the first player to garner the title "The Rat", Kenny Linseman. Since Linseman retired in the early-1990s, that nickname has been used too generously with other pestering players (i.e. Matthew Barnaby) but for longtime hockey enthusiasts Ken Linseman will always be the true "Rat". Linseman also won a Stanley Cup with the Edmonton Oilers in 1984 and appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals on three other separate occasions (1980, 1983, 1988).

Sean Avery has a official rule
nicknamed after him.

And as Tikkanen's and Linseman's names will forever be enscribed upon Lord Stanley's Cup, Avery in his own bizarre way will forever being embedded into the NHL records and annals, particularly the NHL rule book. During the 2008 NHL playoffs when Avery's Rangers squared-off against crosstown rivals the New Jersey Devils, Avery did everything amongst his vast array of annoyances to pester and agitate the Devils players, but especially future hall of fame goaltender, Martin Brodeur. During one contest in the series while the Rangers were on the power play with a two-advantage, Avery, who was already in front of the Devils net screening Brodeur, intentionally turned his back on the play and began to wave his hands and stick in front of Brodeur's face in an effort to distract and exasperate the nerminder. Avery would eventually be the one to score the power-play goal against the Devils later during the sequence. Many felt that Avery's antics were unsportsmanlike and uncalled for. But no one could question their effectiveness, as the Rangers would go onto win the series 4 games to 1. During the traditional handshake between the two teams at the end of the series, Martin Brodeur actually refused to shake Sean Avery's hand.

Though at the time when Avery employed this particular tactic there was not any explicit violation of the rules, many hockey experts still felt that Avery's method of screening was in fact unsportsmanlike and should not be allowed. The day following the game when this took place, the NHL issued an interpretation of the unsportmanlike conduct rules which stated that it was an illegal play for a player to intentionally turn his back on the play while screening a goaltender, and that the player's focus must be directed towards the play at all times. This interpretation of the rules was dubbed "The Sean Avery Rule".

Make no mistake, Avery does possess other talents that coincide with his knack for antagonism. Avery is actually fairly accomplished in winning face-offs. And though his offensive skills have diminished with age, Avery has hit double-digits in goals on four separate occasions, including his highest output of 18-goals during the 2006-07 season, all the while racking up over 1500-penalty-minutes. Sean Avery also has on his career 15-points in 28 playoff games, which is not too shabby for a player who has spent most of his time on the third or fourth-lines. During the same 2008 playoffs aforementioned, Avery registered 7-points in only 8 games. Avery brings more to the table than just spunk and diarrhea of the mouth.

The New York Rangers of 2011-12 are a team leiden with talent. And suffice it to say that perennial pests can play integral roles in highly talented hockey teams becoming champions, as Tikkanen and Linseman did. While already possessing the likes of top-notch talent in Marian Gaborik, Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, Michael Del Zotto, and the offseason blockbuster acquisition of Brad Richards, the New York Rangers need to blend in various role players that can them a unique advantage over the opposition, the way that agitators and enforcers able to do. There is perhaps no other player in the League more unique than Sean Avery, and he has the capability of playing a role that can change the outcome of a hockey game or series and help his team to win.